The " Spurious And Clandestine" Mark Lodge.

YARKER further states that he received the Degree in the lodge now pronounced to be " spurious and clandestine " on " Sunday , the 15 July , 1855 , " and that it was then known as the " Travelling- Lodee " or " Cheshire Mark Lodge , " the meeting

being held under the warrant of the Lodge of Loyalty , No . 402 —now No . 320—Mottram . lie further tells us that he is not aware "that in these years the participation of the Craft lodge amounted to more than this : that the members allowed the use of their rooms and furniture , a permission with which , I take

it , Grand Lodge has no right to interfere . " In this he is confirmed by Bro . FOREMAN , who writes with reference to the inquiry ordered into the conduct of the Craft lodges in the neighbourhood , " nothing had been done by any of the lodges beyond permitting the use of rooms with a portion of their furniture , a

custom which had existed for at least 60 years , and a procedure which has been regularly granted by Craft lodges to Knights Templar , the Allied and other Degrees , and even to the ' Royal Mark ' itself , all of which Degrees are not recognised by the Constitutions of the Craft any more than that of the ' Ashton

District Mark . ' " The version as given by the General Board differs , however , materially from those of Bros . YARKER and FOREMAN , the Board stating that "The Craft Lodge is first opened in the three degrees , and in the 3 the W . Mark Master enters and takes the chair . The Candidates are then

balloted for , and afterwards the Mark Lodge is opened and the Candidates advanced . " We are unable to account for so material a discrepancy between the two versions , but we prefer

that of Bros . FOREMAN and YARKER , which , coming as it does from brethren who were themselves advanced in this district Mark lodge , and of whom , the former tells us he is still a member , is decidedly the more acceptable of the two .

But that our readers may be able to form a clearer conception of the case , wc lay before them the following summary of . statements as taken froii the Board ' s Report and the letters we have published . According to the Board and Bro . YARKER , this " spurious and clandestine" Mark Lodge was

founded towards the close of last century , and , as was the custom then anil for years after , it worked under the authority of a Craft Lodge warrant , the authority being granted by different lodges at different times . Its minutes , however , the Board tells us , only date from 15 th July , 1830 . In July ,

1855 , Bro . YARKER was advanced in the lodge , then known as the " Travelling Lodge , " or the " Cheshire Mark Lodge , " the meeting beine held under the sanction of the Craft lodge at Mottram . In 18 5 6 Mark Grand Lodge was established , with Lord LEIGH as first M . W . G . Mark Master . " In 1870 , " the

Board tells us , " the M . W . Bro . Canon PORTAL , G . M ., and the then Grand Secretary " —Bro . FREDERICK BlNCKES— " approached these brethren with a view to their giving their allegiance to Grand Lodge , and a Warrant of Confirmation was offered them free of cost , with the understanding that all their

members should be registered at a nominal fee , but the 1 " uneral Fund seemed to stand in the way , and the negotiations fell through . " Next we have furnished by Bro . FOREMAN the certificate granted him by the Mark Grand Lodge to the effect that he was registered in its books as having been " admitted as a

joining Mark Master" on the 28 th day of December , 188 7 , in the Skelmersdale Lodge , No . 141 , Ashton-under-Lyne , the certificate itself , which is not the least important item in the case , as taken fiom Bro . FOREMAN ' S letter , being as follows : H . R . H . the Prince of Wales , KG ., cSrc , k :., Grand Master .

Be it known that our brother Thomas D . Foreman { Originally Advanced under Ihe Ashton-under-Lyne Constitution ) , who hath signed his name in the Marg'n hereof , was regularly admitted as a joining Mark Master on the 28 th day of Deer ., 18 S 7 , in the Skelmersdale Lodge , No . 141 ,

Ashton-under-Lyne , and that he is registered in the books of the Grand Lodge accordingly . All lawful and worthy Mark Masters throughout the globe are therefore prayed and enjoined to receive him as a brother , kc . ( Signed ) F REDERICK HI . VCK . ES , Grard Secretary .

Since then he tells us he has passed the chair in the Skelmersdale Lodge and been appointed to office in the Provincial Grand Mark Lodge of Lancashire , retaining the while , as it se ^ ms , his connection with the Ashton Mark . And vet in the

teeth of all this evidence of its acknowledged regularity of coir slilution , the Mark Grand Lodge now declares if " spurious and clandestine . "

The " Spurious And Clandestine" Mark Lodge.

The reason , of course , is clear . The Ashton Mark has recently dubbed itself " The Honourable United Grand Lod ge of Ancient Free and Accepted Mark Master Masons , Ashton District . " But here there is no claim to anything in the nature

of rivalry with the Mark Grand Lodge of England , the title being strictly defined , as applying only to the " Ashton District , " and Bro . FOREMAN ' S certificate mentions as distinctly the " Ashton-under-Lyne Constitution , " as' being recognised as a

regular Mark Lodge by the Mark Grand Lodge of England , as late as the 28 th December , 188 7 . We think that the Ashton Mark lodge has done an impolitic act in introducing the word " Grand " into its designation , but while we entirely agree with

Bro . HUGHAN as to the desirability of all Mark bodies being under the banner of the Mark Grand Lodge , we remain of the opinion expressed in our former article on the subject , that the

said G . Lodge has taken the course that is least calculated to bring the Ashton Mark and the Grand Mark into harmonious working .

" The Craft And Greater Britain."

" THE CRAFT AND GREATER BRITAIN . "

( From the Indian Freemason ) . Recent issues of the Freemason ( Lond . ) contain the opening chapter of an article on "The Craft in Greater Britain / ' India having , so far , claimed the attention of the writer . Judgin « from remarks here and there , emanating from his pen , he

appears lo infer that the European Official class represents the mainstay of the Order of India , which , we unhesitatingly assert , is by no means the case . As a matter of fact , the official class of Europeans , who , as the part in question runs , " have only gone out to that country for a

period , and look forward to retiring on a pension after , say , 2 ^ years' service , " represents but a moderate proportion of Freemasons in India , especially if we deduct the military element , which we may , however , add of itself forms the Masonic community in some stations in this country . Some two years or so

ago wc went into statistics and found two branches of the official class , the Indian Civil and Indian Medical services at least , were notoriously in the minority , hence if we take this fact into consideration , and deduct the military , which can hardly be said to

belong to the category officialdom , it is difficult to imagine from what source the class is drawn , which comprises " nearly every European in India" who are entitled to a pension , and have their ultimate abiding place in England .

What appears to us to be rather a deplorable state of affairs connected with the Order in India is that evolved from the writer ' s observations of our Aryan brethren , and we cannot but think he has been unfortunate in dropping upon incidents connected with certain lodges containing natives of India , which

have leavened the whole lump of his views . Granted that the Hindu brother is something of a problem , not only in Freemasonry , we may add , but in almost everything else , we are not prepared to admit that he seeks admission to our Order through curiosity any oftenerthan the European does . We would

rather believe that enlightened bythegradualincroach of Western habits and civilisation generally , he is more frequently prompted by a longing to meet his British Brother on a broader platform than ordinary society would provide , and we have little hesitation in asserting that Freemasonry has invariably fulfilled his

expectations by providing facilities of social intercourse , and with it the mutual exchange of sentiment and views , for it cannot be denied that the majority of natives who become Freemasons are our equals in intelligence , afforded by no other

means . Indian V reemasonry , as relating to the influx of Aryans into its fold , is even yet in its infancy , and progress will necessarily be slow until we fully realise the universality of our Masonic Principles . Let the Britisher sink the air of superiority so often natural to him in his relations with the native of

Indiaseeing that in the general practice of beneficence and Charity — two leading principles of the Order , our Hindu Brother frequently shines as an examplar , and encourage him to support Freemasonry to a greater extent . The " difficulty of assimilation between Eastern

and \\ estern races referred to by the writer will become less insuperable , and the spirit of unfairness , so palpable in the bare toleration of our Indian brother on the floor ( as the article infers ) when his services to the lodge frequently gives him an equal right to its dais , be a thing of the past .

There are numerous other points in the article in question upon which more or less comment could be made , but we cannot find space to dwell upon them now . There is a good deal of